The DICT Development Group

  Operose \Op"er*ose`\ a. [L. operosus, fr. opera pains, labor,
     opus, operis, work, labor.]
     Wrought with labor; requiring labor; hence, tedious;
     wearisome. "Operose proceeding." --Burke. "A very operose
     calculation." --De Quincey. -- Op"er*ose`ly, adv. --
     Op"er*ose`ness, n.
     [1913 Webster]

  operose
      adj 1: characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion;
             especially physical effort; "worked their arduous way up
             the mining valley"; "a grueling campaign"; "hard labor";
             "heavy work"; "heavy going"; "spent many laborious hours
             on the project"; "set a punishing pace" [syn: arduous,
             backbreaking, grueling, gruelling, hard, heavy,
             laborious, operose, punishing, toilsome]

  64 Moby Thesaurus words for "operose":
     Herculean, abstruse, arduous, assiduous, backbreaking, brutal,
     burdensome, complex, critical, crushing, delicate, demanding,
     difficile, difficult, diligent, effortful, elaborate, exacting,
     forced, formidable, grueling, hairy, hard, hard-earned,
     hard-fought, heavy, hefty, industrious, intricate, jawbreaking,
     killing, knotted, knotty, labored, laborious, mean, no picnic,
     not easy, onerous, oppressive, painful, painstaking, punishing,
     rigorous, rough, rugged, sedulous, set with thorns, severe, spiny,
     steep, strained, strenuous, thorny, thorough, thoroughgoing,
     ticklish, toilsome, tough, tricky, troublesome, uphill, wearisome,
     wicked